Original news and analysis on international IP policy
This week, the World Intellectual Property Organization annual General Assemblies will set the priorities and direction for the organisation for the year to come. The Assemblies also have before it approval of WIPO's budget for the next biennium 2016/2017.
Free trade agreements should include incentives for generic and biosimilar medicines, speakers said at a panel during the World Trade Organization Public Forum last week.
The ratification of an international convention to fight counterfeit of medical products by Guinea has unlocked the entry into force of the instrument, now set to happen on 1 January 2016.
At a panel at the World Trade Organization organised by the United States Chamber of Commerce, proponents of strong intellectual property protection explained why this protection is key in international trade, even if some might consider the minimum standard set by the WTO IP rules might need an update.
On 29 September, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution on how to safeguard the public interest against the interests of the pharmaceutical industry.
The annual World Trade Organization Public Forum opened today with a plenary session on making trade work more inclusively. The Doha Round, agriculture, and environmental technologies were part of the conversation.
Collective management organisations have often been the subject of criticism both from artists and end users. Some international federations have set up professional rules, but there is no international standard. The World Intellectual Property Organization is working to set up a voluntary international recognition of good practice for those organisations.
This week, the World Trade Organization is holding its yearly public forum with a focus on the contribution of the organisation to global trade since its inception 20 years ago. Some 90 sessions are planned, on issues such as intellectual property, global value chains, agriculture, trade for development, and the WTO dispute settlement system.
New delegates have arrived to Geneva just in time for the annual Assemblies of the World Intellectual Property Organization and the World Trade Organization trade ministerial. Geneva Delegates Zoraida Rodríguez, Deputy Permanent Representative to the World Intellectual Property Organization and…
In a couple of weeks, the World Intellectual Property Organization will hold its annual General Assembly. The African Group is asking the Assembly transform the committee devoted to finding a way to protect genetic resources, traditional knowledge and folklore from misappropriation into a standing committee. This would allow the committee to avoid seeking the renewal of its existence every two years, which it faces again at this year’s Assembly.
A new paper by a Norwegian researcher finds that recent legislation efforts on plant variety protection in Africa go beyond the requirements of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV).
Members of a World Intellectual Property Organization committee last week reached some tough agreements on issues relating to the next two years’ program and budget, but had to pass on unfinished work to the full WIPO membership, which will meet in two weeks.